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Internal affairs investigates allegations of internal affairs at sheriff’s department

August 9, 2010

By KAREN VELIE

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff officials are conducting an internal affairs investigation into a male sheriff deputy and a female jail correctional officer who are accused of sexual misconduct on the job and of filing a false report against the wife of a former San Luis Obispo police officer.

Patty Limon says that Deputy Gower Slane filed a sheriff’s report last spring claiming she had sent two threatening Facebook messages and one harassing voice message to correctional officer Jamie Elwell.

Limon, the wife of recently terminated San Luis Obispo Police officer Armando Limon, denied the allegations and filed a complaint against Slane who she said filed a false report for a colleague he had allegedly had a relationship with.

CalCoastNews interviewed multiple sheriff’s department insiders who said the investigation, which is focused primarily on sexual misconduct while on the job, is being kept under wraps. However, sources also contend that several additional, but unnamed sheriff deputies, are also being investigated for sexual misconduct while on the clock as part of the internal affairs investigation.

Regardless of whether the original report is accurate, several police officers have said that such messages, unless clearly threatening or voluminous, do not normally result in law enforcement action. At the same time, an officer is not supposed to take any action on behalf of a friend.

According to Patty Limon, deputy Slane originally refused to tell her who reported that she was making harassing phone calls, other than to say the alleged victim lived in Templeton.

Dan McDow, the other police officer who pled guilty in April to bringing misbranded pharmaceuticals over the U.S. border from Mexico, told the Limons the report was most likely filed by Jamie Elwell, his former girlfriend and also the mother of his child. McDow’s suspicions were soon confirmed

After their breakup over three years ago, Elwell and McDow continued to text and stay connected. That is when, according to Patty Limon, Elwell texted McDow to describe intimate encounters she was having, while at work, with deputy Slane.

However, after McDow started dating an old girlfriend, Elwell allegedly broke into McDow’s home and began driving by his and his girlfriend’s homes.

During their custody battle, in an affidavit Elwell admitted to entering McDow’s home without permission. She said she went into the home through a back door because McDow had failed to return one of their son’s shoes after spending time with their son. Armando Limon also provided an affidavit in which he said he had witnessed Elwell stalking McDow.

Then on May 15, 2009, McDow’s current girlfriend, Holly Hovore filed a report against Elwell with the Pismo Beach Police. Holly said Elwell called her dozens of times, sent her text messages, and would repeatedly drive by her home. On two occasions, someone vandalized Hovere’s car during the night.

Holly said she asked Elwell to stop calling or texting her, but the phone calls continued.

“I began getting nervous because she carries a gun for her profession,” Hovore said. “She hasn’t contacted me since I filed the report.”

Hovere and Limon contend that Elwell had Slane file the report to retaliate against them for the affidavits and reports they had previously filed against her.

Meanwhile, some department insiders are questioning if having San Luis Obispo Sheriff Sgt. Andy Rasmussen conduct the internal affairs investigation into the alleged false report and sexual misconduct creates a conflict of interest. Rasmussen worked with Gower Slane’s father, former department commander Greg Slane, and also attends the same church in Atascadero, sources said.

Patty Limon said Rasmussen told her and McDow he knew the messages had come from her computer. He, however, refused to take her computer to check the address after she asked him to examine it in order to clear herself.

“Rasmussen said he had to have a warrant before he could take the computer,” Patty Limon said.

In addition, Limon said Sgt. Andy Rasmussen stopped by McDow’s home on July 29, and threatened that if the sex allegations didn’t go away someone was going to have to go to jail.

“He said they were going to charge Dan (McDow) as an accessory,” Patty Limon said. “This is ridiculous.”

Rasmussen did not return requests for comment.


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I had a feeling this was all going to come out eventually. I heard Karen talking about this, and I was sure it was going to be about Jamie Elwell. That woman should be fired. The real victims here are the families of all the guys she’s seduced into having affairs. I don’t care about McDow or Limon or whoever else, but I feel really bad for the wives and kids who are being hurt. I hope this gets it out in the open and she gets fired, so she’s at least not wasting our tax money with her affairs. The sherriff’s department should clean house. There are so many things going on in that department with nobody being held accountable. Who do they even answer to? The last sherriff retired, and the new one hasn’t been elected. Everyone’s just running wild without anyone there to control it. The county should really have a separate governing body, like city council, because otherwise there’s just too much of this “protect your own”, sweep it under the rug, nepotism, favoritism, and corruption going on.


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To all of you who judge, you should know who the victim is here and who the villain is. That Elwell woman has been harrassing Dan McDow and his fiance for over two years. She has literally put them through hell, and the whole time she plays the innocent “victim” when in reality she creates all the bad situations she gets into. Dan’s fiance had nothing to do with any of this, but she was getting harrassed so badly she had to call the police. Does anyone think that’s fair?? Jamie has also gone after and slept with several married men she works with, including doing some of it while on duty, and the taxpayers have gotten to foot the bill for her sexual liasions. Does anything think THAT’S okay?? The police report that was filed was over two annoying facebook messages and a phone message, which does not constitute a police report- yet one was filed against Patti Limon without proof that she was even the one doing it. And it was filed through a guy Jamie Elwell has had sex with (married, of course). Does THAT sound like an abuse of authority?? Good for Karen for blowing the lid off this woman’s unlawful, immoral, and unethical behavior.


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Sherrif Hedges has set the norm and standard for the department!

As for those of you who are now calling for a citizens oversight committee, I ask where were you when a citizen, who was very active in ACLU, tried very hard to get one going? Did any of you volunteer to be involved? I attended a number of meetings. This was about the time Hedges was first running and he stood in the back listening to the small audience.

I sure hope that neither Cortez or McPhearson are having extra marital affairs.


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Whoops. I meant Parkinson.


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Well let’s actually see if we can straighten out some of the facts here:

Deputy Gower Slane stopped by Elwell’s mobile home 16 times (That the neighbor at least did count) to have sex (As Slane has confided to two people) while Deputy Slane was a deputy, not a jail guard. (Gower you shouldn’t make house calls when the mother of a neighbor works at the same place you do – it’s probably going to get out – people either assume drug dealer lives there or a 5150 – But now apparently the world knows its for a sexual affair – I hope for your sake Gower that Tina doesn’t read this because she doesn’t deserve it). And Gower, to so adamantly deny everything in the locker room now is just tacky. We took this job because we’re supposed to have high integrity, make mistakes, sure, but own them and move on.


The jail guard confusion may come in the form of another individual that used to be a correctional officer but has since made his way to patrol, Deputy Robert Degnan (Not to be confused with his brother that is a Paso PD officer – Roger Degnan). Elwell had 3 sexual encounters with Dep. Degnan, one of them being oral sex in the locker room on night shift. Robert – You know cops talk, bragging in the first place is never a prudent idea. Yes of course, as you may have guessed – Degnan was having an affair also. Although to be fair, Robert is generally a bit of a lady chaser and has almost landed himself in trouble on more than one occasion.


I have no idea how or why this McDow or Limon issue comes into this thing other than McDow sharing a child with this correctional officer, but if even half of the things I have “Heard” (I say heard, because I won’t talk gossip) that Elwell has engaged in and allegedly done to other people on her “relationship gone bad” list then I truly feel for Patty. If it is fact that Patty truly offered her computer to the investigators, then I honestly have to wonder whats going on at the Department that they DON’T want seen. With all of our video’s and misconduct already on the internet, I’m sure the department is going take any possible precaution to minimize blast radius.


But those are the facts. I have an encyclopedia of he said / she said, but we’ll save that for another time :-)


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omg….this is better than anything on t.v. right now….


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Never heard anything about it (committee) at the time you state. Not saying it didn’t happen but how do we hear about this? I never saw anything on the news or in the paper. I have NO problem volunteering but I have to know something is going on before I can volunteer. Same as most here I would presume.


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Don’t know if Parkinson is having an “affair” but we know that he was screwing the psycho cop Amy Chastin that cost us all 200K for beating up an honest citizen in his own home and pepper spraying him twice while lying about the facts and claiming her audio and video all failed to document the incident.


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nancy….how do you know parkinson was “screwing” amy chastin?


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I heard the same thing around the courthouse about Amy and Ian pretty hot and heavy for a while. Also about the nude drunken hot tub parties at that fighters house, Chuck something. All of his neighbors are fed up as the other cops won’t respond to their complaints because Parkingson is involved.


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ok, that makes sense….i have heard about the parties at Chuck’s house too…..gotta love living in a small town!


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Yes, most of the PD know about Amy Chastin and Ian, so does Amy P.


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katie….what does amy p. think of amy c.? are these people swingers or what??


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Chuck Liddell, The karate guy that teaches some of the SLOPD illegal choke holds etc with the Ian’s approval!


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Ah I see the friends of Limon have made there appearance here. Just as the friends insisted that McDowell and Limon were injustly being accused way back last Sept.


Of course. WRONG.


Just like the charity that was defended by all the friends as o.k. WRONG.


Just like Gearheart was misunderstood. WRONG.


Just like Wilcox and Edge. WRONG.


Just like…. should I go on???


Not saying Karen wouldn’t or couldn’t get something wrong but her track record has been pretty damn good in my book of getting stuff in the spotlight, that a LOT of people aren’t hearing about elsewhere. So to all the friends of friends of friends that are posting, will post, etc. that Karen has got it all wrong, maybe you folks have it all wrong.


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My comment is that Karen is only really using the word of a lady whose husband is a drug smuggling (ex)cop…she needs to have a better source than someone with a bone to pick and has nothing to lose since she has lost everything since her husband got caught and now she is trying to get the person who possibly caused that to get in trouble!! How you got that I am a friend of Limon, i have no clue. that is not it at all..that guy and McDow got whats comming to them.,.I just feel this is wreckless reporting and that she is using the word of MRS Limon…note how many times the article says “Limon said…”


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Truth Hurts…if there was no basis for any of this, then why is Jamie Elwell in an internal affairs investigation over it? Obviously Karen’s reporting is not “wreckless” (nice spelling) if the sheriff’s department considers it worth investigating, too. Two facebook messages and a voicemail don’t equal a crime. There are several people who know that Jamie has affairs with married men and Gower Slane is one of them. In fact, one of her neighbors at her trailer park has seen his sheriff’s car parked outside her trailer at all hours. Do you really think that’s the right person to have file a police report on her behalf, for ANY reason? She’s harrassed Dan McDow, his fiance, and her family for over two years. She’s broken into his house, and driven by his house and his job obsessively. There is absolutely nothing to say she wouldn’t harrass his friends, too. Especially if they’re already in a vulnerable position. That’s her favorite time to attack, obviously.


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since you dont know..let me inform you…if someone makes a complaint agaist a member of the Sheriff’s Dept..there is a Internal Investigation that is done..it said Limon made a complaint..that then triggers a IA within the department..but you wouldnt know that because you are led to believe that nothing is done ever..


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Well if you’re not a friend of Limon’s my bad but if you have been posting here for awhile, you then know that what I mentioned (all the friends brigade coming out to defend) goes on here a lot after Karen drops a bombshell. The arguements have simularity to what you stated, they almost always say Karen is gossiping but the funny part is that when Karen is proved right (which as stated happens alot) they all disappear without a word.


Also in my reading of article, it says that she (Karen) has spoken to several placed sources within the dept. and also had spoken to Holly Hovore, so your arguement that this is only a bitter wife (Limon) speaking out doesn’t quite hold water.


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Good job Karen, I have to say though there is an article that New Times covered that I was really bummed not to see on here. Its another scandal with the County. I feel like I am in High School again. All the teachers pets get pats on the backs, promotions, while the ones working their arse off get harrased by employees that dont know whats going on. At least the principle is paying me to be there. Sad to say things like that, but don’t hold it against everyone there. Some of us do care about what we do.


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OK karen…you have hit a new low..so now you are using the story of a lady that is the wife of a cop who got fired for bringing drugs acroos the border? how can we trust this lady? by the way..Deputy Slane has not worked in the jail for about 5 years..so are you saying that this happened then or just recently…Patty Limon is like a drowning rat that is trying anything she can to get her and her husband out of the spotlight!!! WHERE IS YOUR PROOF BESIDES THE WORD OF PATTY LIMON? Elwell is tied into this whole thing I understand due to her having a child with McDow but Karen you have no proof other than a bitter ex-cops wife! even if Elwell might of sent texts about a relationship they could have just been an attempt to get McDow back since he bailed on her after he found out she was pregnant…unless someone saw the actual act or you got conformation from one of the people you are talking about you ARE ABUSING YOUR 1ST AMENDMENT RIGHT!!! I hope you get sued!! Also, it was rumored that Elwell is the one that told on McDow and got him caught with the pills so this could also be a chance just to try and get back at Elwell since Limon is now out of a job becasue of it…also if Elwell lives in Templeton…if she wanted to make a report she would have to call the Sheriff’s dept since this is where she lives!!!


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In 1992 the California legislature enacted section 425.16 of

California’s Code of Civil Procedure1 in order “to encourage continued

participation in matters of public significance” and to prevent the

chilling of such participation “through abuse of the judicial process.”

2 When a lawsuit is brought for the purpose of chilling such participation,

that lawsuit has been dubbed a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit

Against Public Participation).3 Section 425.16 permits a special motion

to strike in any SLAPP suit4 and freezes discovery.5 The statute

is thus designed to prevent SLAPPs by ending them early and without

great cost to the SLAPP target. Another aspect of the provision’s

deterrence is the entitlement of the prevailing movant to attorney’s

fees and costs.

All of these people are participating in and commenting on a matter of public significance, since the people concerned are public employees, whose salaries are paid by the taxpayers.


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Thanks for the research, good stuff.


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This is all very confusing but for some unholy reason is isnt’ very surprising. Just who is zooming who here?


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These people carry guns and have the authority to “police” the rest of us !!!!


Do we no longer require psych evaluations before hiring people as law enforcement officers? This reads like something from a backwoods parish in the deep South. The next thing we’ll learn is that the 2009 Police Officer of the Year doesn’t know it’s against the law to bring narcotics back from Mexi . . . oh wait, we’ve already heard that.


I agree with BeenThereDoneThat in his/her (it would be nice if people used their own names) suggestion for a police commission. At the very least, the Grand Jury should be given some teeth and the authority to investigate.


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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Injustice News Feed, CalCoastNews. CalCoastNews said: Internal affairs investigates allegations of internal affairs at sheriff's department – http://tinyurl.com/293pups […]


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OMG!!!! Now it’s the flipside of the Wilcox/Edge fiasco, only in the Sheriffs Department and the wife of Limon who himself was involved in B.S. This is worst than a soap opera.


It has been mentioned by me and others here and I am thinking more than EVER, is it time for a Police Commision yet folks!!???


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